Chicken

Armed to the Teeth!

I forgot to mention:

If you've got a horse or a cart or packmule, what you can carry goes up by a LOT. Now, in actual war scenarios, medieval knights and well-equipped footsoldiers would have squires and carts to hold things like lances, halberds, and etc.

An adventurer doesn't always have those luxuries, but if you do, don't forget to consider that.

And one big note: BACK. SHEATHES. DON'T. WORK. You can't really keep a sword sheathed on your back. Don't try it. It's bad for you. And on that note, you can't sheathe claymores! Or anything that would probably qualify as a 'greatsword!' You might have a scabbard for them, but you certainly aren't going to be able to wear it while walking around in your daily life. You'll hit every door you try to get through and it'll drag on the ground and etc. Not good. Just carry the greatsword in your hands.

Armed to the Teeth!

Well, this depends on the media.

There's a certain video game called NWN2 I used to play wherein I tend to fall to the good ol' Hammerspace trope, for instance. If you're not familiar with the trope, it's about having the ability to pull various stupid things out of nowhere. In this case? Throwing axes. Like, nigh infinite throwing axes just somehow fitting on the belt, on bandoliers, in the character's backpack... Because he could throw something like seven or eight throwing axes in one combat round people would exasperatedly ask "WHERE DID YOU GET ALL THOSE AXES?!" and he'd just smile, shrug, and yank out several more.

But most of the time I like to be far more serious. There's good videos to be found on the web about how much you can realistically carry. For medieval fantasy adventuring, I go for something like this:

• HANDS: This is where you can carry a large two-handed weapon, such as a polearm, greatsword, crossbow, longbow, or battleaxe. You realistically cannot sheathe these weapons, so either putting them on a cart or carrying them by hand is your only real option. If you forgo a two-handed weapon, perhaps you carry a large shield with your hands.
• HIPS (BELT): You can typically carry a sidearm or two here, such as a longsword, warhammer, or a mace. You can potentially have a quiver of arrows on one hip, or even a quiver of arrows or bolts and a shortbow. Notably, it's quite easy to have a spare dagger or a buckler here with whatever weapons you have, making the buckler a very lightweight and easy extra weapon to bring around. Pouches located on the belt can carry various supplies, and you can always have a couple throwing axes tucked onto it. Just think realistically about how much room is on that belt. A sidearm, a dagger, a couple pouches and a couple throwing axes is reasonable. Ten throwing axes and twelve pouches is not.
• BACK: You can strap certain shields here. You can also have a quiver of arrows or bolts. Javelins can go here, too. But you reasonably can only carry, like, one thing on this spot.
• BANDOLIERS: If you have a bandolier going over your chest it's not a terrible spot for things like daggers or potions or alchemical tools (smoke bombs?) or what-have-you.
• A SPECIAL NOTE ON SLINGS: Slings are a very interesting weapon in that while they're generally crappy, they can be carried really easily because they weigh just about nothing. In the real world they were more useful than early bows for a time, and ancient slingers often wore a lot of them: as armbands, as headbands, as cords around their belt, etc. So if you've got a pouch of lead bullets or stones, you've got lots of places to wear slings.
• A SPECIAL NOTE ON DAGGERS: You can fit knives just about anywhere. Boots? Check. Up your sleeves? Check. On your legs? Check. At some point it can become uncomfortable, excessive, and give your enemy free daggers to shank you with in a grapple, but hey: you can have lots of daggers. If I were being realistic, I would try not to go overboard, especially if you're wearing armor.

So here's a few examples of reasonable adventuring kits:

Wulfric is an old, grizzled mercenary that fights in the thick of the melee. He wears a gambeson with a breastplate over it, and his weapon of choice is a halberd. He likes the halberd because he can use it as a walking stick while traveling, and it's a very versatile weapon. He has a dagger in his left boot and a mace as a sidearm, and he keeps a buckler on his belt as well. His only other weapon is a hand crossbow, a weapon he chose because it's easy to carry on his belt, but he doesn't use it very much.

In contrast, his traveling companion Edgar loves crossbows. Edgar carries a rather large, high draw crossbow as his primary weapon, so he carries it everywhere, and he wears brigandine armor because it's easy to repair. Besides his crossbow, he has two daggers: one on his belt and one in his boot. He also keeps his quarrels of bolts on his belt, a small shield strapped to his back, and a falchion at his side.

The third member of this entourage wears a simple shirt of mail with a tunic and pants. His name is Arthur, and he was a shepherd before he was an adventurer, and so he knows how to use a sling very well. He prefers to travel light, so he carries nothing in his hands when traveling, but he has a buckler at his side and three slings: one used as a headband, one dangling from his belt, and another wrapped around his right wrist. He has two pouches of ammunition at his belt: one of lead bullets and one of stones he gathers while traveling. He also keeps a knife handy at all times and he's gotten pretty good with the longsword he uses in conjunction with his buckler. He carries a backpack and is in charge of keeping most of the group's camping gear. He tends to drop the pack before a fight.

The above three characters all have pretty reasonable loadouts of equipment. Like... You COULD have more, but if you're shooting for realism you can quickly depart from it. The more weapons you add, the more inconvenience you get.

Duke's Quest

Do note: I am perfectly open to making a more traditional knight character in light of all the seemingly more cerebral characters we'll be having. It's not a big deal for me to draft up a new character concept. And I understand Raffaele is a bit of an oddball himself, so it's cool if you would just rather not have him! Adhering to the themes of the story comes first.

I've got an incomplete sheet to show. I'll pause it for now as I realize we may need a more martially inclined character, but to give a general impression of what I was originally going for, click the hider below. But again, I am perfectly willing to make a knightly member of the court instead.

The rough summary: he's an illusionist and overall prankster with an academic background and a distant Fey heritage that displays via dwarfism, an odd appearance, and a talent for trickery-focused magic. He's not a member of the Court, but I'm thinking he has a friendly relationship to someone in court (perhaps the Duke or the Court Mage?) and has volunteered to help save the Princess as a favor for a friend.

Once I know whether I should continue making this character or make a knight, I'll get to work again.

Raffaele

Name: Raffaele the Incorrigible
Sex: Male
Culture: Italian
Age: 43
Physical Description:


Afflicted with dwarfism as everyone in his father's line has been, Raffaele stands at no more than three feet tall. His pointed, floppy ears and strange eyes betray a distant inhuman heritage, and his short limbs and awkward gait give him an altogether clumsy appearance. Most probably don't expect much of a man of his build, as he's a fairly scrawny looking fellow. He's pale, curly-haired and large nosed, and his accent is distinctly rustic Italian with a touch of German inflection. He smells like someone who doesn't bathe much, and he dresses in green robes and hood over simple padded cloth armor. His thick beard often has twigs sticking out from it.

Raffaele always carries various pouches on his person: some with herbs, some with chalk or silver or the like, and one with very, very special mushrooms. The mushrooms are recreational. The little man also carries a dagger, a buckler, and a simple mace at all times.

Occupation/Skillset: There are few people in the world with a set of skills quite like Raffaele's. He has been a scholar and a beggar; a playwright and a toymaker; a thief and a magician. He knows a little about everything, and is especially well learned on history, geography, geology, astronomy, and literature. Being something of a know-it-all is a pastime of his.

But what truly distinguishes Raffaele is his magical talents. His distant, inhuman ancestor has left in his bloodline a talent for a pecular sort of magic: that of glamours, that of light and sound. He can make men appear to be giants, or make the sound of trumpets blare where no music is to be heard. He can conjure up images of nightmares, make the earth look cracked and broken, or simply spray forth dazzling colors from his hands. For him, it's as easy to him as breathing is to a healthy man. However, Raffaele has no mastery over fire, or earth, or any element at all. He knows some basic legerdemain and can pull small objects into his hands from a distance, but his great feats of magic are all based on deception and trickery.

Nevertheless, Raffaele's illusionary magicks pair rather well with his other skills. He has a wide range of voices, able to whisper softly or bellow like a much larger man. He can sing as well as give speeches, and he makes for a convincing actor. He knows a little about pickpocketing and can pick a lock handily enough (though he finds it more satisfying to hit locks with a hammer), and all-in-all uses his trickster's talents to compliment his magical deception.
Personality:
Backstory:

Battletech: Anabasis

Making the changes now! Will mention the presence of UAV drones in the recon section, too.

Duke's Quest

Cool! I'll write something up in the morning. If I'm applying with a mage, I want my mage to be distinct from the other one both in personality, specialty, and how he conducts his magic.

I may still roll up a not-a-mage. We'll see. But distant inhuman ancestry leaves a lot of possibilities either way.

Duke's Quest

Quick question: as my character is probably gonna be an illusion-based hedge mage type, what is your stance on someone having a fantastic creature in their lineage? Say, they're a changeling, stolen away in their youth by the faeries; or a distant relative is one of the mythical, secretive dwarves of Norse mythology?

Essentially, the magic may come from study, but may also have something to do with their blood.

Battletech: Anabasis

Finally posted my app in the characters tab. Let me know if that's fine!

Battletech: Anabasis

Name: Gregory Mazigh
Rank: First Lieutenant in the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces (LCAF)
Allegiance: Lyran Commonwealth
Planetary Origin: Waldorff
MOS: Vehicular Command Officer
Synopsis of Role: The down-to-earth bastard son of an impoverished noble, Mazigh's biracial heritage makes him stand out in his family. He joined the military as the Fourth Succession War began, but he could not afford a commission. He has served in the infantry, as an engineer, and now as the leader of a small force of combat support vehicles. His job is to make sure any trouble that comes up during the training exercises with the cadets is dealt with cleanly. Any pirates popping out of the Periphery will be eliminated swiftly and efficiently.
Vehicles: Mazigh does not pilot a battlemech, but rather is in charge of commanding and leading a small force of combat vehicles. He pilots a Condor along with other crewmembers, but sometimes remains behind in a field base where he can more easily conduct combat operations. He prefers a hands-on approach to combat, however.

COMBAT VEHICLES

2 Condors
1 Plainsmen with a standard loadout
1 Plainsman with a custom loadout: It has 2 SRM4s, basic anti-air flak weaponry, and a Beagle Active Probe. It's an experimental predecessor to the Scout variant of the Plainsman (which won't appear until 3065). Its flak weapon has jamming issues, but they're relatively easy to fix outside of combat.
2 Galleons
1 Goblin (transports infantry)

RECON VEHICLES

3 Swift Wind recon vehicles (also have half-ton cargo space)
Some UAV Drones

SUPPORT VEHICLES

2 Büffel VII combat engineering vehicles (Cargo-specced; sacrificing grenade launchers for more space to carry spare parts and salvage)
1 Generic Expandable Services Vehicles (Cargo-specced)
1 Generic Expandable Services Vehicle (Mobile Command Post Config.)
1 Generic Expendable Services Vehicle (MASH Config.; used for medical emergencies in the field)
3 Battlemech Recovery Vehicles
1 Heavy Battlemech Recovery Vehicle
1 Sherpa Transports

ARTILLERY

2 Prototype Padilla Missile Artillery using Arrow IV missiles - this artillery is based on the old, no-longer-in-use Padilla design. As there are very few of the original Padillas still in use, this prototype exists to evaluate the combat performance of the old design in a more modern setting.
1 Thor Artillery
2 Thumper Artillery pieces (with vehicles to tow them as necessary)

El Cielo: Paradise on Ganymede (Sci-fi Colonial RP)

I see no reason that wouldn't work! A note on the colony itself:

In a weird way, the corporations are a little 'hands off' with the colony, besides stopping now and then to make inspections and pick up goods. The colony itself is run by blue collar workers and penal colonists that are trying to make life a little better for themselves however they can. So you have different factions of people with different personal goals working toward the same overall goal of 'staying alive.' Not everyone gets along, but they'll bear each other and sit on the same council that decides the big issues in the colony.

However, corners are definitely cut in the health and safety departments. As said in the opening post, this place ain't exactly OSHA compliant. Penal workers especially get the worst jobs, the ones where they actually have to swim out and work on pipelines and stuff, or where they take submarines out to gather materials. They're the group at the greatest risk of encountering Delta P effects.

But yes! Your concept should work fine. If enough interest is garnered, there will be a faction and character sheet to fill out later.

The Duke's Quest

@Chicken I'm actually making a court mage myself. If you go with a mage character, maybe we can work out some degree of shared history? My guy is a pretty straight wizard at this point, who doesn't overlap with what you're describing.

@Bazmund

Certainly! Assuming my concept holds any water, and seeing as I don't necessarily want my character to be a part of the court, he could be a somewhat eccentric colleague of your character that has come to lend some assistance in a time of need? Perhaps he's someone else's court mage, a more adventurous sort, or he's a teacher of <something> in a remote province?